Search smh:

Search in:

Australia to help US over Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange may have broken Australian law and may not be welcomed back to the country if convicted, Attorney-General Robert McClelland says.

Mr Assange, who has been involved with the online posting of about 250,000 US diplomatic memos, is the subject of a Swedish arrest warrant over sex-crime allegations.

He was born in and holds a passport for Australia and may return to the country.

"I'm aware the US Attorney has said that US law-enforcement authorities are looking very closely at the fact that United States laws may have been breached and the Australian Federal Police are looking at whether any Australian laws have been breached," Mr McClelland told reporters on Saturday.

Advertisement

"We have also indicated that we will provide every assistance to United States law-enforcement authorities."

Mr McClelland also said the Australian government had considered cancelling Mr Assange's passport, but there were "issues in respect of serving a notice of cancellation".

"More importantly, there (are) issues as to whether it would be constructive or counter-productive to the law enforcement," he said.

Assange's passport would set off alarms if presented at an airport, and Mr McClelland questioned "whether it would be counter-productive to remove the identification that would in fact trigger the law-enforcement process".

The 39-year-old Australian has not been seen in public since the release of the documents on Sunday and has refused to give his whereabouts.

He is reportedly hiding out in Britain.

In a question-and-answer session on The Guardian newspaper's website on Friday, he said his team was taking security precautions due to "threats against our lives".